


Captive Hearts

by TheRavenistheWritingDesk



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Spoilers, twin!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 20:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11791278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRavenistheWritingDesk/pseuds/TheRavenistheWritingDesk
Summary: This fic is based on conversations between a friend and me, where both of our Persona 5 protagonists are twin brothers. Kaori Shikoba is theirs and Ren Shikoba is mine. I'm only able to write from the perspective of one of the twins. If my friend ever writes a fic from Kaoris pov of what happened that's up to them. This is Rens pov though, and his relationships. I decided to type the fic up so that my friend could read it without trying to read my awful handwriting.I hope you all enjoy this all the same.





	1. Prologue

For as long as I could remember, my brother was always at my side. I remember staring into his eyes in the middle of the night holding his hand.

“Hey Kaori.”

“Yes Ren?” I squeezed his hand resting my head against my arm.

“We’ll always be together right?” His eyes had started to close, he was tired from the games we had been playing earlier and even though I was also tired; I didn’t want to fall asleep just yet.

“Of course, we’re twins. We’ll always be together.” I smiled and closed my eyes slowly, squeezing his hand again.

“Do you promise?” I heard him yawn and felt him squeeze my hand in return.

“I promise.”

The words of our childhood promise rang loud and clear through my head, as I watched the police pull my brother away from me. I rushed from the womans side screaming out his name as I reached for him. I could barely hear my own voice over the sound of the sirens from the police cars. They tried to restrain me, as I shouted and reached for him. I remember my elbow hitting something as my fingers missed their target. I remember being slammed against the ground, the weight of the cops pinning me down as they handcuffed me, pushing me into the car along with Kaori.

Everything in our lives had changed that night, it felt like such a blur; all I remember clearly was the warmth of Kaoris hand in mine as we stood in the center of Shibuya.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This took me so long to write by hand, I literally wrote through a hand cramp. I guess, if you stuck around after the prologue and wasn't scared off because of Twin!Jokers then this'll be interesting.

Kaori had been staring at his phone while I looked around. “Huh?” I turned my attention away from one of the large screens to look at him.

“Is something wrong?” He showed me his phone screen and I tilted my head in response.

“Did you download this app to my phone?” My head shook and I used my free hand to pull my phone from my pocket, looking down at the screen.

“It’s on mine too; I’ve never seen this app before.” I paused for a long moment, looking to him as he deleted the app with a light huff.

_That doesn’t look like a good idea, but I can’t seem to uninstall it like a normal app for some reason. I tried to delete the app with a sigh, I could have sworn though I saw something vibrantly flickering off in the distance._

_  
_

“Ren come on, it’ll get late before we get to their place.” I was pulled from my thoughts, quickly shoving my phone in my pocket; the app quickly forgotten about.

“Ah, wait for me Kaori!” I turned quickly to run after my twin, rejoining his side; _I wonder if he saw it too._

I didn’t ask as we walked towards Yongen-Jaya station. “I wonder what our caretaker is going to be like. I’m nervous about this new school too; I just want to blend in for once.”

Kaori chuckled shaking his head beside me, I felt his hand land on my head and he ruffled my hair. “If anyone tries to start something with you, I’ll have a talk with them.”

I stared back at him, shaking my head. “The last time you had a talk with someone who was teasing me because of my name, you scared them so badly they pissed themselves right there in the hallway.” I paused as he chuckled again, looking a little proud of himself. “I’ll be fine; I’m tougher than I look.” We laughed together as we walked from the station to the alleyway.

We arrived at the address we had been given, but after ringing the bell and no one answering we turned to look at each other Kaori shrugging. “What was the name of that cafe they said we could find him at again?”

“I think dad said it was Leblanc like the author.” Kaori gave me a look but I rolled my eyes in response. _So what I like reading,_ “Maybe we should ask for directions, someone’s bound to know where it is.”

Kaori shrugged his shoulders, shoving his hands in his pockets. We walked around the alleyway and asked several people for directions to the café before we finally found it.

“At least it looks cozy, for a small place I mean.” I smiled up at Kaori and he returned it as he reached for the knob.

“Let’s go in and introduce ourselves then.” I gave a nod and followed his lead into the café.

The scent of coffee and curry greeted us as I walked in, standing close behind Kaori. There was a news report playing on the television that caught my eye. “A public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it! The citizens can’t live in peace if this keeps up.” Spoke the host of the news report.

“How frightening.” I heard an elderly man speak up from a nearby table, shifting my gaze from the TV to Kaori.

“What could be going on? Didn’t something similar happen just the other day?” An elderly woman’s voice spoke up next and I felt a little worried hearing that.

“Vertical is…The name of a shellfish used for farming pearls…” I blinked shifting my gaze to the man doing the crossword puzzle. “…Oh, right.” The man seemed to finally notice us and set his newspaper down on the counter.

“They did say that was today.” The elderly couple rose to a stand.

“We’ll be going now. The payment’s on the table.”

The manager I’m assuming turned to the couple with a nod. “Thanks for coming.”

“This place is in the back alley, so there are no worries of a car crashing in here.”

“A what now?” The manager looked confused by the elderly mans choice of words. _Was he not listening to the news report?_

“There’s been a string of these rampage accidents, you know. I just hope that none happen around here.”

“It’s none of my concern.”

“Haha, we’ll see you next time.” The elderly couple left and I moved closer to Kaori to give them plenty of room.

“…Four hours for just a single cup of Joe.” The manager sighed. “So you’re the twins? I only see one of you.” I peered out from behind Kaori, my fingers tangling against the sleeve of the uniform jacket he wore; that caught his attention. “Oh, there’s the other one.”

I gave a small smile from beside my twin, “Are you Sakura-san?” I asked as Kaori’s hand came to rest against my head.

“Please take care of us.” Kaori spoke up beside me.

“Yeah, I’m Sojiro Sakura. You’ll be in my custody over the next year.” Sojiro had a small smile on his expression as he introduced himself and I started to relax slightly. _At least he seems nice, maybe this year won’t be so bad after all._

“I was wondering what kind of unruly pair would show up, but you’re the ones, huh?” Kaori’s lips quirked into an amused smirk and I internally groaned.

_I’m not as unruly as Kaori, oh no. My dreams of fading into the background have already been crushed._

“Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other and-well, not that that matters…Follow me.” Sojiro turned and walked upstairs, Kaori and me following close behind him. We were led into an attic room that was a mess, with a single bed pushed against the back wall. “So this is your room. I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed, if you two aren’t planning to share it there’s a couch one of you can sleep on.”

I didn’t think Kaori minded sharing the bed with me, sometimes when things were rough at home we shared a bed. It reminded me of when we were children, I used to sneak into Kaoris room and crawl into his bed when I had a bad dream.

“You look like you wanna say something.” I stared at the cluttered room as Kaori spoke up.

“It’s big.”

“Yeah, you both are in charge of cleaning it up.” I looked back to Sojiro. “I’ll be leaving after I lock up each day. You two will be alone at night, but don’t do anything stupid. I’ll throw you both out if you cause any trouble.”

I gave a nod to show we understood. “Now then…” He paused and stared at us. “I got the gist of your situation. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured and then sued you both right?” There was another pause before he continued. _At least he didn’t mention the assault charge that had been added from the officer I hit with my elbow, or the added charge of resisting arrest._

_They had forgotten who had done what so they just blamed us both for everything._

“That’s what you get for sticking your noses in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah?”

“…And now that you’ve got a criminal record, you both were expelled from your high school.” I felt a slight ache from the reminder. _Even though I had a feeling it would happen, Kaori almost got into a fight with the staff._ “The courts ordered you both to transfer and move out here, which your parents also approved.” I noticed Kaori frown a little, _our mother had been quick to agree to it; I was surprised she had shown up sober for the trial. Our dad looked sad though, I hope he’s okay._

“In other words, they got rid of you both for being a pain in the ass.” I heard Kaori snerk, trying to suppress a laugh and I couldn’t help but smile. The smile that Sojiro had on his expression faded quickly and I almost flinched with how serious he had suddenly become.

“It’s best you not talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business you know. Behave yourselves for the year. If nothing happens, your probations will be lifted.”

“…A whole year?” I asked rather puzzled.

Sojiro sighed in response, “Your sentence lasts until next spring, right? That’s why you’re both gonna be here for the coming year.” He paused staring right at us.

“Cause any problems, and you’ll both be sent straight to juvie.” He paused again before continuing. “We’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow.”

“Shujin?” I asked, tugging at the end of my curled hair.

“Shujin Academy- The school you’ll be attending. We’ll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There’s rarely a place that’ll accept someone like the two of you, you know. What a waste of my Sunday…”

Sojiro sighed and looked off to the side. “Your luggage arrived earlier, I left them over there.” With those parting words we were left alone.

“We’ll be living here starting today…” I mumbled as I looked around the cluttered room, untangling my fingers from Kaoris sleeve.

“We should check out what’s in here then…” Kaori mumbled, tugging on the end of his hair; I gave a nod in response. We looked around the room, and cleaned up what we could. At least with us both working together it didn’t take long to clean up, it was even kind of fun. Once we were done cleaning it had already gotten late, Sojiro walked into the room catching me by surprise.

“What the heck? I heard you both making all sorts of noise up here but I didn’t think you were cleaning.” Sojiro gave a look around the room, Kaori and I exchanged glances of our own. “Actually, the place doesn’t look too bad.”

“Though it is only natural you’d want to keep your room tidy. Why don’t you both go to bed for tonight? You don’t have anything better to be doing, right?” Kaori snerked, but Sojiro didn’t seem to notice. “I’m going to close up shop and get out of here myself.” There was a pause as I gave a nod. “I won’t be the one looking after either of you if you get sick from staying up too late, you got that?” We both gave a nod, watching him walk away.

I looked from the stairs to Kaori. “I guess we should get some sleep then, we’ll get to see our new school tomorrow.” Kaori gave a nod and ruffled my hair.

“Don’t look so nervous Ren; it’s only for a year.” I rolled my eyes, swatting his hand away with a chuckle.

“Yeah, it’s only a whole year of people making flower insults and confusing the two of us; no big deal.” We laughed as we walked to the bed falling onto it. I gave a stretch as I felt the weight of everything finally sink in. Kaori pulled the blanket up to our shoulders and I turned onto my side to look at him.

“Hey, Kaori.”

“Yeah, Ren?”

“Together forever right?” He chuckled softly and I could hear how tired he was as he squeezed my hand.

“Yeah, no matter what.” I smiled softly and closed my eyes. It felt like some of the weight had been lifted my shoulders.

I heard the sound of our phones going off which stirred me from the memory of what happened that night. I could barely see anything without my glasses on, being near-sighted was a real pain sometimes.

I felt Kaori shift beside me, reaching for his phone. “What the-That app…” I slowly lifted my head to look towards the screen of his phone. It was rather blurry but I could see the app he had deleted earlier. I reached for my phone to check it too, since it had gone off.

“It’s back on my phone too.” I mumbled my brows furrowing. “The icon almost looks like an eye…I thought we deleted it.” I looked towards my twin as he frowned.

“It’s kinda creepy.” I was really tired, so I deleted the app again before putting my phone back down.

“I hope it doesn’t cause a virus.” I murmured, resting my head against my arm. Kaori shrugged and set his phone down by mine as we both drifted back to sleep.

The sound of chains woke me before the cold reached me. My eyes shot open and I noticed Kaori was already sitting upright, wide awake. We looked around the once large attic room to notice we were in some kind of dark cell now. Strangely enough, I could see more clearly than normal and I noticed the handcuffs around Kaoris wrists before noticing the ones on my own.

_Where are we?_

Quiet laughter reached our ears and we both turned to look at the blonde eye-patched children that stood outside our cell. Kaori tried to approach the bars first before we noticed the ball and chain at our feet. It slowed his pace only slightly, and I was pulled along with him by the shared chain. Kaori gripped the bars and I moved closer to his side. The room outside the cell was large, and we could see many other cells that were empty across from ours. There was an elder man with a long nose sitting at a desk looking right at us. He was smiling and raised a gloved hand palm up at us.

“Trickster, welcome to my velvet room.” My eyes widened slightly and Kaori pulled at the bars of our cell.

“So you’ve come to, inmates.” One of the girls spoke up.

“The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You’re only experiencing this as a dream.” The other one spoke up in a softer voice.

“You’re both in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!” I flinched a little at the harsh voice.

“Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well.” The elderly male continued explaining. “I summoned you both to speak of important matters. It involves your lives as well.”

“Important matters?” I asked, noticing Kaoris growing irritation. Kaori pulled harshly at the bars again and I quickly grabbed him as the baton slapped the bars with an electrical sound.

“Let us out!”

“Know your place, inmates! Who do you think you’re talking to?!” I tightened my grip against Kaoris arm worried.

“Calm down Kaori, let’s hear what they have to say.” He clenched his teeth but gave a nod to me.

“Still, this is a surprise…The state of this room reflects the state of your own hearts. To think a prison would appear as such. You both truly are prisoners of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.” _Ruin? What does he mean by that?_

“Are you kidding me?” Kaori spoke up, shock and irritation filling his voice as he gripped the bars again.

“Ha ha, worry not. There is a means to oppose such a fate. You both must be rehabilitated. Rehabilitated towards freedom…That is your only means to avoid ruin…Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?”

Kaori and I gave each other a look. “We’d rather avoid ruin.”

“Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation.” The twins turned to face us both in unison.

“Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here.” Igor explained.

“Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like.” Caroline spoke up harshly.

“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates; we are also your collaborators…That is, if you both remain obedient.” Justine spoke softly in comparison of her twin.

“I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion.” Igor spoke up once more and the twins turned their backs to us. “Now then, it seems the night is waning…It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually…” Igor snapped his gloved fingers and we looked up as an alarm sounded.

“Time’s up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep.” Caroline spoke turning back to us. Kaori frowned and grabbed the bars quickly. My vision started to swim, and I fell back towards the cold bed before Kaori caught me. I could barely hear him calling my name through the haze as sleep pulled me under.

When my eyes opened again, Kaori was still laying beside me. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. _Was it all just a dream?_

Kaori stirred and gripped my shoulders beside me looking worried. “Ren, are you okay?” I blinked, staring and taking in his expression.

“You had the same dream Kaori?” He nodded and we slowly sat upright. We talked about the dream and changed into our new uniforms trying to make sense of what it meant. We continued talking until Sojiros voice caught our attention.

“Looks like you’re both up. Well then, let’s go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer. The school you’re attending is in the Aoyama district. It’ll cost you a bit to ride the train there, and the route transfers are a pain. I’ll drive you both there, but just for today. Let’s go.” Sojiro turned and left, Kaori and I exchanged glances. “Sheesh…Men aren’t usually allowed in my passenger seat.” We heard him mutter. We could talk more about the weird dream another time. We moved to our feet, grabbed our phones and our bags before following after our caretaker.

We arrived at the school, staring at the gate. Sojiro turned to us and sighed. “Do me a favor and behave yourselves, all right? Don’t get me wrong- I don’t care what happens to either of you. Just don’t cause me any trouble.” After saying that we followed him through the gates and into the building as I jabbed Kaori in the side when I saw the mischievous glint in his eyes.

We stood nearby as Sojiro filled out the paperwork on the Principals desk, my gaze sweeping over some of the objects in the office.

“To reiterate, just so we’re clear, you both will immediately be expelled if either of you cause any problems. Honestly, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side…” As the principal spoke I couldn’t help but think he reminded me of a villain from a comic book. Maybe it was just his appearance though that gave me that impression of him. I glanced at the woman beside him; she looked like she didn’t want to be there.

“You might have done a variety of things in hiding in your hometown, but you will behave yourselves here. If you are thrown out from our school, there will be no place for you to go. Keep that in mind.” I could almost feel Kaori rolling his eyes, _how many people are going to tell us this?_

“This is your teacher in charge of your class.” She finally looked up at us.

“I’m Sadayo Kawakami; here’s your student ID.” She passed us the IDs and we tucked them into our wallets. “Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won’t be able to protect you at all…That IS your promise, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?”

The principal gave a nod, “They are responsible for all of their actions.” She crossed her arms and looked off to the side upset.

“But really though, why me…? There should’ve been better candidates.” I made a face, we weren’t that bad.

“It was a sudden transfer, and your class was the only one that had an opening.” I kicked my feet a little, _I want to go back home._

“If you’re done explaining things, mind if we get going? I got a store to get back to.” Sojiro spoke up and Kaori and I looked to each other.

“Sakura-san, please keep a close eye on them. Don’t let them cause any trouble outside…” Kaori frowned and I jabbed him in the side shaking my head.

“Well I’ll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation they’re in.” I was pretty certain we already had that talk though, but I kept quiet.

After that, we left and I was able to relax a little. “They’re treating you both like some kind of nuisance…I guess that’s what it means to have a criminal record. Turns out your past follows you wherever you go.” Sojiros words surprised me.

“By the way…If either of you get expelled now, I won’t hesitate to kick you out. Got it?” That response surprised me less.

Kaori and I nodded, “We’ll be careful.” I promised.

“Hmph…” He sighed. “School never changes, huh…? Come on, we’re going home.” We followed Sojiros lead out of the building. _Home sounds nice._

Thanks to traffic we sat in the car awhile, Kaori sitting beside Sojiro in the front.

“Traffic’s not moving at all…You both are taking the train starting tomorrow…” I shuddered; _I hate how crowded they can get._ “…So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you both can manage?”

“It seems fun.” Kaori remarked and I leaned forward to peer over his shoulder, Sojiro shook his head.

“Do you even understand your situation…?” There was a pause, “Still, you were expelled once already. To think you’d re-enroll at a different one. It’s not like anyone will be sympathetic with either of you.” Kaori and I exchanged a look. “…If that’s what it was like at school, people might say stuff about me in the future too…What troublesome kids I’ve taken in…”

“Why did you take us in?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. _It wasn’t as if he had to, right?_

“I was asked to do it, and I just…happened to agree to it. I’ve already been paid for it too, after all.” _So it wasn’t just out of the kindness of his heart._ I stared out the window for a moment in thought; _I wonder who paid him to do it. Was it dad?_

“Again, a subway has derailed at Shibuya station, greatly affecting the timetable all across the-“ That caught my attention, pulling me from my thoughts.

“…Another accident? So that’s why it’s so crowded. There’s been a lot of those lately.”

We resumed the silence, as we waited for the traffic to clear up so we could go home. When we finally made it back, Sojiro was trailing into the café behind Kaori and me.

“Damn, to think there’d be that much traffic…What a waste of time. I wasn’t able to open the café today…Whatever. Just head upstairs. There’s something I need to give you both.” We exchanged looks for a moment, giving a nod and I followed Kaori upstairs to the attic room.

Sojiro didn’t take long to meet us in the room. Staring at his phone, “Talk about gruesome accident…Eighty people were involved.” He put his phone away and pulled two black books from his pocket. “It’s a diary. Make sure you both write in them. You may be under probation, but there’s no special limitations on what you do in particular. Besides following the law, that is.” Kaori snerked lightly and I shook my head with a smile.

“However, I’m obligated to report on you, which is why I’m having you record your daily activities.” Sojiros phone started ringing and I leaned back.

“Hey, what’s up?” Sojiro paused as he spoke on the phone. “…I’m about to leave right now. Don’t worry. I’ll be there on time…Uh-huh. I’ll see you soon.” As Sojiro hung up I couldn’t help noticing his smile was nicer than his frown.

“Well, I’m off. I’ll lock the place up, so do whatever you both want for the rest of the night. Oh, but don’t mess up my store. If something goes missing, I’ll hand you both right over to the cops.” He paused. “You both got school tomorrow…You better head off to bed, all right?” We watched him leave and I sighed. Kaori picked up the diaries and tossed one over to me.

“We should do as we’re told for now…” Kaori shrugged and changed into his pajamas while I wrote down everything that happened in the diary, along with little bits of commentary on certain moments. Once I was done, I set the diary down and changed into my own pajamas, crawling into bed beside my twin.

Before we got too comfortable though, we heard a ringing sound coming from downstairs. Kaori sighed and we climbed back out of bed, heading downstairs to check the phone. I answered it as Kaori leaned against the counter staring into space.

“Yo, it’s me.” I gave a tired blink, staring at the shelf of coffee.

“Who is this?” I asked sleepily and Kaori quirked a brow.

“Sheesh, you forget my voice already? It’s Sakura. Uhhhh…I closed up shop, but I forgot to flip the sign to closed. It’s too much of a hassle for me to go back, so one of you flip it for me.”

“Ok, got it.” I could ask Kaori to do it and he tilted his head speaking up.

“You called the public phone?”

“Sorry, I made it a habit not to save guys’ numbers on my cell phone.” Kaori shrugged and went to go flip the sign. “Anyway, I’m glad one of you answered the phone over in the shop. Ok then, I’m leaving you in charge of the door sign.” Sojiro hung up just as Kaori returned inside; I placed the phone back onto the hook and yawned.

“Let’s get some sleep; I’m tired from being lectured about our situation all day.” Kaori remarked already heading up the stairs. I gave a nod, following after him sluggishly. I fell back onto the bed, beside him once more as he scrolled through his phone. “News about that accident is all over the place. What the-That app is back again.” I peeked at his phone before looking at mine, he was right.

We tried to delete it for the third time, before we closed our eyes and drifted off to sleep. _I wonder what our first day of school is going to be like._


End file.
